Republican Rep. Kevin Cramer of North Dakota blasted the #MeToo phenomenon Sunday in an interview with The New York Times.
Cramer proudly proclaimed that North Dakotans aren’t necessarily subject to politically correct language and are fond “of saying what a lot of other people don’t dare say — but think.”
He is running against Democratic Sen. Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, who voted against the confirmation of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court.
He said the #MeToo movement was a perfect example of speaking what he sees as the truth, and specifically cited the testimony of Christine Blasey Ford, who said she was sexually assaulted by Kavanaugh when both were in high school. The FBI found no corroborating evidence for her story.
Cramer insists the evidence matters, not “that you’re just supposed to believe somebody because they said it happened,” he told the Times.
Cramer spoke of his wife, daughters, mother and mother-in-law and said, “They cannot understand this movement toward victimization. They are pioneers of the prairie. These are tough people whose grandparents were tough and great-grandparents were tough.”
The Congressman said the #MeToo promoters had simply gone too far by trying to suggest Ford had to be believed and Kavanaugh destroyed without evidence.
“The world got to see close up how ugly it can be when you go too far.”
Heitkamp dismissed the criticism Sunday.
“The better part of my career in public life has been working with victims,” Heitkamp told The Times. “Did you ask him how many victims during this process he actually sat down with, and survivors he sat down with, and visited with personally?”